This Christmas
by glorifiedgleek
Summary: Carl and Emma have that Christmas dinner mentioned in A Very Glee Christmas and then spend the holiday with Emma's parents. One Shot; Pure fluff.


Emma took a deep breath before she exited her bedroom. This was the first time she had ever held a big party like this. She really didn't know what to do or expect.

She walked into what was now her living room and smiled at the guests as she walked by until she reached the front of the room where Carl was standing.

"There you are," he said as he kissed her on the forehead. "I thought you were hiding from us," he whispered.

Emma smiled. In a way, she was hiding. "Welcome everyone," Carl addressed the room getting everyone's attention. "Emma and I are very happy you all could make it." He paused for a moment. "As you all may or may not know, Emma and I got married last weekend."

There were light murmurs from the crowd which consisted of Emma's coworkers and Carl's work buddies. Emma's sole friend wasn't in attendance. She knew it was probably too much to expect Will to come to this engagement, but she would have loved the companionship nonetheless.

"Yes, it's true," Carl laughed to bring back attention. "We would love it if we could have this not just be a Christmas party but maybe also a late wedding reception?"

More murmurs before everyone nodded their approval. Emma breathed in a sigh of relief. "I didn't get you guys a gift though," One of Carl's friend's shouted.

"That's okay Dave," Carl laughed. "I didn't expect anyone to."

xxx

Emma watched wearily as Carl mingled with his work buddies. A few of her coworkers came over to marvel at her enormous wedding ring. Emma was never really close to any of them so they knew she was married but hadn't been allowed access to the ring until now.

Frankly, Emma wasn't sure why she had invited most of the people in attendance. Weren't you supposed to ask friends to private parties? The only person even close to a friend there was Shannon Bieste but she was too busy talking about last night's football game with a handful of Carl's friends to be any company for Emma.

She sighed as she reminded herself that she didn't really have many friends. She actually prefered it that way. People are too unpredictable. But she kind of didn't like the idea of Carl inviting so many of his friends and her by her lonesome so she decided to invite coworkers, even it up a bit. The only problem was that she was still by her lonesome.

Carl stopped dead in a conversation he was having and glanced toward Emma. She was standing in a corner all by herself. He promptly excused himself.

"It's your party and you'll cry if you want to," Carl teased as he made his way to Emma. She smiled politely. "What's wrong Ems? You're just standing here all by yourself," he stuck out his bottom lip. "Big parties aren't your thing huh?"

Emma shook her head, "No, not really. It's a little overwhelming."

"Oh Ems, you are so adorable," he squeezed her cheek. "You have so many of your friends here. Just start up a conversation. You'll get the hang of it," he winked.

Emma frowned. If only it were that simple. "Actually Carl," she whispered, "None of these people are actually my friends. I have no idea what to talk about with them. I've already showed off my ring so I can't go with that."

"Wait, none of these people are your friends," he laughed. "Why did you invite them then?"

Emma shrugged. "Well Shannon is sort of my friend-"

"What about Will," asked Carl, cutting her off. "I thought you invited him."

Carl had his opinions of Will but he knew that he was a beloved friend of Emma's so he had put his personal feelings aside so Emma could have fun at the party, which she currently wasn't.

"Will declined my offer," said Emma sadly. "I can't really blame him though. He's probably heartbroken."

"Um hmm," Carl nodded as _This Christmas_ started to play. "Hang on the mistletoe. I'm gonna get to know you better," he began to serenade her.

Emma blushed. _This Christmas_ was one of her favorite Christmas songs. "And as we trim the tree how much fun it's going to be together, this Christmas," he continued. "Forget Will," he said. "Forget everyone here we don't know. Let's make this Christmas special all by ourselves," he encouraged.

She nodded as he took her hand and led her to the center of the room where they began to dance and he continued to sing. Their guests stared wide eyed in confusion until Shannon Bieste began to join in on the song. Eventually there was no need for Carl to sing anymore as everyone joined in.

xxx

When the song was over everyone applauded. Carl took Emma off to the side as the crowd picked up with the next song.

"It's like group karaoke," she laughed in amazement as Carl pulled her into a kiss.

"Lets drive down to see your parents tomorrow," he said after breaking the kiss. Emma's face turned from ecstatic to terrified.

Carl cupped her cheek. "I know you're nervous about telling them about our marriage and you wanted to do it in baby steps, but why not be spontaneous? This is as good a time as any."

Emma stared into Carl's eyes concerned, almost searching for an answer. Something like this was extremely impulsive, but so was getting married in Vegas and going to see Rocky Horror in a sticky, messy theater, and all of the other things she never thought she'd do before she started seeing Carl.

After a while, Emma finally smiled and nodded her head yes.

"Yeah," asked Carl.

"Yes," Emma assured. "Lets make this Christmas special." Carl took her in a warm embrace.

xxx

"What? Married? Why," was the warm reception Emma got from her parents after she explained to them who the handsome young fellow that had tagged along with her was.

"What about Will," her mother asked. "He seemed nice."

Emma sighed. It had been a rather long time since she had spoken with her parents about her love life. It had been a long time since she had spoken with them at all really. That wasn't atypical though.

"Will and I broke up a while ago mom," Emma began. She took a seat on the couch and gestered for her and her dad to sit down as well. This was going to take awhile.

"Nice meeting you folks by the way," Carl joked as he grabbed a seat next to Emma.

"Carl was my dentist. That's how I met him," Emma began to explain.

"That explains the perfect pearly whites," her dad noted.

"Why thank you," Carl smiled, making sure to show off his perfect teeth.

"Yes, well after me and Will were over, he asked me out and I said yes," Emma continued. "We've been going out for the last few months and last weekend he just popped the question and we went straight to Vegas," she held up her left hand to show her ring finger. Both her parents mouth's hung wide open at the size. "Please be happy for me. It's not like I can take it back," her and Carl shared a laugh.

"But Emma, didn't you think it was a little soon? And a Vegas wedding? I would think you'd want better than that. I wanted better than that for you and would have liked to have gotten an invite," her mom said. She sounded kind of irritated on the last bit.

"I do apologize for you guys not being there. It was all pretty spur of the moment. Carl and I were thinking about planning another wedding for everyone to attend," she looked over at Carl. He nodded assuringly. They actually hadn't talked about that before but it sounded like a good idea about now.

"But Emma, we know hardly anything about this man. You know hardly anything about him," her dad concluded.

"I know enough," she insisted. "And you have up until the day after Christmas to get to know him. We'll be staying for a while. I'm sure he'll win you guys over like he won me over." She turned toward Carl and they shared a smile.

xxx

It took time but Carl did eventually win the Pillsbury's over. They loosened up to him a lot when they found out about all the help he'd been for Emma with her issues. Her mom frankly called Emma's request for eggs a few days after they'd arrived a Christmas miracle.

"You haven't eaten dairy in more than twenty years," she said still awestruck.

"Yeah, I've only started eating them recently. It was one of the biggest obstacles I've overcome so far," Emma explained. "Did you know eggs aren't even dairy," she laughed. "I've been avoiding them all these years for nothing."

"About obstacles," said her mom. "You guys aren't-"

"Nope," Emma answered. She knew what her mom was going to ask. "That's one of the bigger obstacles that I haven't overcome yet unfortunately. Carl is very considerate though. He understands that it is going to take time."

"This guy is a saint," her mother concluded. "You're married and he isn't dissatisfied at all? Never let him out of your sight," she winked.

"I don't plan to," Emma giggled.

xxx

On Christmas day Emma's brother, sister-in-law and nephew stopped by. She greeted them all with a hug.

"Emma are you feeling okay," her brother asked. "You haven't hugged me since I don't know when. And you've never hugged Marcia and Luke."

"It's been a long time Lucas," said Emma. She motioned for Carl to come forward. "This is my husband Doctor Carl Howell."

"Put er there bro," Carl extended a hand. "Wow, this is one of the most appropriate times I've ever said that," he noted.

Lucas smiled as he shook Carl's hand. "Well, a lot sure has changed from last Christmas."

After the meals had been eaten and the gifts opened everyone just sat by the fire and watched the latest football game until _This Christmas _began playing on the radio. Carl walked over and turned it up causing Emma's dad and brother to groan about not being able to hear the game.

"Shh," Emma silenced them as she stood and walked over to Carl.

He took her hand. "So what do you think," he whispered. "Did we make this Christmas special?"

"We sure did," said Emma as they began to dance.


End file.
